Capital Celluloid 2021 — Day 120: Mon Sep 13

Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987): Prince Charles Cinema, 6pm


This screening is part of the Wim Wenders on 35mm season at the Prince Charles Cinema. You can find all the details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Wim Wenders's ambitious and audacious feature (1987) focuses mainly on what's seen and heard by two angels (Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander) as they fly over and walk through contemporary Berlin. These are the angels of the poet Rilke rather than the usual blessed or fallen angels of Christianity, and Wenders and coscreenwriter Peter Handke use them partially to present an astonishing poetic documentary about the life of this city, concentrating on an American movie star on location (Peter Falk playing himself), a French trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin), and a retired German professor who remembers what Berlin used to be like (Curt Bois). The conceit gets a little out of hand after one of the angels falls in love with the trapeze artist and decides to become human; but prior to  this, Wings of Desire is one of Wenders's most stunning achievements, certainly in no way replaceable by City of Angels
, the ludicrous 1998 Hollywood remake.
Jonathan Rosenbaum


Here (and above) is the trailer.

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